A Subversive Subaltern Narrative: Souvali in Mahasweta Devi’s After Kurukshetra

Abstract

The hierarchy prevailed in the hegemonic power structure created subalterns also. The three stories in Mahasweta Devi’s After Kurukshetra, which is a retelling of Hindu mythology explore the predicament of women in a war-ravaged world and their differential manner in coping up with it. The last story of the collection “Souvali” depicts a Shudra woman who has more strength of character and convictions. She was a dasi woman in the palace of Hastinapur, who is the mother of Yuyutsu, Dhritarashtra’s son. She could not forgive the father who gave his son just a name and never his affection. Though she categorically belongs to the marginalized group, she has strong individuality and hence she leads the life of an empowered woman. As a servant in the royal household, she felt all her sorrows coming to an end when her son was born, but it comes to naught when he was taken away. She lost any meaning in staying in the palace as one of the dasis which effaces her identity as a woman. So she decided to stay in the outskirts of the town after informing the head dasi to tell her whereabouts if her son enquires about her. She was not ready to observe the death rites of Dhritarashtra as she is not his wedded wife. Her gender does not deter her from asserting her individuality and her independence and leading a life of her own choice. Mahaswetha Devi’s narrative of Souvali is a subversion of the subaltern narratives